Cute and Candid
by MerryH
Summary: "Darren, seriously, we have half an hour to get these photos done and I swear to god if you make that face one more time, I might have to kill you." Ryan enlists Chris and Darren to take a new photo for Kurt's McKinley Courage collage. Slight Crisscolfer.


I wrote this forever ago but decided it was time to move all my CrissColfer fics across to FF as well. Enjoy!

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><p>Chris was sitting off-set, patiently waiting for his next scene with his iPhone in his hand when it happened. He'd been flicking through tweets and contemplating whether or not to tweet about an idea Amber had put in his head earlier that day when Ryan appeared before him, unceremoniously dumping a digital SLR in his lap. Chris raised an eyebrow at him, looking up from his phone to see Darren standing behind Ryan, bouncing on the balls of his feet with a wild look in his eye.<p>

"Why do I already have a bad feeling about this?" Chris groaned, his eyes flitting from Ryan to Darren who was now beginning to grin wildly, the bouncing becoming slightly more frantic.

"We're going to put a new photo in your Courage collage for your locker when you go back to McKinley. So you two go take some coupley photos."

"Seriously?"

"Don't question me, Chris. Make sure they're cute, too, and candid. Think myspace-esque?"

Chris snorted at the reference, all too aware of the various Myspace profiles he had browsed in high school that had couples slavering all over one anotherm, mid-tonguing and with one eye each cocked open staring into the camera lens. He remembered feeling both insanely pleased with the fact that he wasn't subjecting himself to the same ridiculousness, but at the same time slightly jealous of the silly, uncaring affection they were all able to portray. He tucked his phone away into his messenger bag at his side before picking up the camera, fiddling with the buttons as he attempted to make sense of it. Darren moved forwards to take a seat beside Chris, tucking his feet up underneath his body.

Ryan began to walk backwards, and he clapped his hands together before pointing at the two of them and saying, "You've got one hour boys, before I need you on set." With that, he turned and sashayed away, leaving Chris once again pondering the general existence that was Ryan Murphy.

As soon as Ryan was out of sight, Darren made a wild grab for the camera that nearly made Chris fall out of his chair in surprise.

"Jesus, Darren!" Chris yelped, whipping the camera out of reach and accidentally launching the flash, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"I just want to use the camera!" He whined, making ridiculous grabby hands at the camera, which was currently being suspended one-handed in the air by Chris.

"Oh my god, has anyone ever told you you're clinically insane?" He continued to hold it out of reach as he stood, ignoring Darren's pouty face and flicking the camera on before he whipped around to capture his frustrated expression.

"Hey!" Darren yelled, standing and again reaching to grab the camera from his hands, but Chris just bounded away laughing, skipping towards one of the quieter parts of the lot where his trailer was.

"Come back here, Colfer, you sneaky bastard." Darren jogged up to his side, slinging an arm around his shoulder and Chris just looked at him and laughed.

"I bet Ryan said I'm the only one allowed to touch the camera, anyway."

Darren flushed slightly and Chris threw his head back in laughter. "I knew it."

"Ryan has no faith! I'm wonderful with electronics."

Chris just looked at him; sarcasm plastered all over his face as he nodded wildly, "Oh of course, Darren. Absolutely. You didn't drop your phone down the toilet the other week at all. You're very lucky that still works, by the way."

"I was _lucky_ I had already flushed, and besides, that wasn't my fault. My phone is slippery."

"Your _brain_ is slippery." Chris snorted, his shoes crunching across the gravel separating the two parts of the lot.

"Ouch, I'm crushed." Darren pressed a hand to his chest in mock hurt, "I had big plans for us Chris, big wonderful friendship plans, and you're dashing them with vicious barbs and terrible photos of me." He gestured at the camera in Chris' hands and sighed dramatically.

"Fine, fine, I'll delete it." Chris succumbed, bringing the photo up on the digital screen. He immediately burst out laughing and pulled away from Darren, doubling over in the parking lot as Darren tried to peer over his shoulder to see the picture.

"Oh god, what is it?" Darren groaned, finally managing to grab the camera from Chris as he squinted at the picture. It was entirely unflattering, the angle far too high and Darren was a mess of Blaine-hair but completely Darren features, a huge, pouty mouth with annoyed eyes, his eyebrows knitted together and his feet tucked underneath him. It was slightly blurry and Darren could understand why Chris was laughing, but it didn't stop him from narrowing his eyes as he reached out to kick Chris in the leg.

Chris' laughter was suddenly punctuated by him repeatedly uttering nonsense words of pain as he hopped around the sidewalk; shuddering with laughter and clutching his leg. Darren took the opportunity for revenge to turn and snap a photo of him, bent over and semi-crippled. He cracked up when it appeared, causing Chris to straighten from his pose, stepping over and snatching the camera from Darren's grasp.

Darren pointed at Chris, wheezing with laughter as he said, "You look like Quasimodo, oh my god."

Chris hurriedly deleted the photo, glaring at Darren pointedly as they began to walk towards Chris' trailer, before he raised a warning finger in Darren's direction.

"_You_ are not using this anymore. I'm pretty sure Ryan doesn't want multiple photos of me in compromising positions."

Darren raised an eyebrow at him; opening his mouth to say something, which would've ultimately meant Chris could never look Ryan in the eye ever again, but Chris simply clamped his free hand over Darren's mouth.

"Don't you dare."

Darren's eyes lit up and Chris felt something wet slash across his palm. Chris ripped his hand away, wiping it on his jeans in disgust.

"Oh god, Dare, are you six?"

Darren laughed, clapping his hands together like a seal before crossing his arms to say triumphantly, "And a half."

Chris rolled his eyes and grabbed Darren's wrist, pulling him towards his trailer.

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><p>"Darren, seriously, we have half an hour to get these photos done and I swear to god if you make that face <em>one more time<em>, I might have to kill you."

Darren was currently sitting cross-legged next to Chris on the couch in Chris' trailer, his eyes crossed, one arm slung over Chris' shoulder and the other pushing his nose flat up against his face. Chris was rubbing his forehead in frustration; the camera sitting in his lap full of photo after photo of Darren making some sort of face that Chris didn't even know existed. He really didn't need to know that Darren could make one eye move in one direction and the other stay still, and he was pretty sure that photo was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, because deleting it unfortunately didn't mean the memory was no longer disgustingly terrifying.

"But it's adorable!" He whined, dropping his hand from his nose that was now red from being held in one position for so long. He looked like such a warped version of Rudolph, all bright eyed and red-nosed, and Chris resisted the urge to laugh.

"No, it's _crazy_. We're meant to be teenagers in _love_. You're meant to be Blaine, and I'm meant to be Kurt, and these photos are meant to be an expression of how ridiculously, disgustingly in love we are."

Darren moved forward to nuzzle his nose against Chris' cheek as he cooed, "But baby bear, Blaine just likes to get a little silly when he's in front of a camera."

Chris shoved him away mercilessly, shaking his head. "Have you _met_ your character? Even when he's letting loose he's still dapper as all hell. The nose thing was better, but maybe try to not be such a creeper. I know it'll be difficult for you." Chris smirked as Darren laughed, throwing his head back before moving to rest his head on Chris' shoulder.

"Better?"

"Much." Chris said triumphantly, raising the camera to snap a photo of them in a flash of white and then turning it round to glance at the result. He was met with another wave of frustration and resisted the urge to beat Darren with the camera.

The photo showed Chris smiling happily, resting his head on Darren's gently with an adoring look in his eyes. Darren, however, was not smiling, but instead had his tongue poked out and curled up strangely, and his eyes clamped shut. The arm that had been initially wrapped around him was being held up behind Chris' head, Darren's fingers splayed to make bunny ears.

"Bunny ears? _Bunny ears_. I hate you. I hate you, oh my god, I've never hated you so much." Chris said, dropping the camera into his lap before he put his head in his hands.

Darren wrapped his other arm around Chris, pulling him into a hug as he laughed ruthlessly.

"Baby _bear_, how can you say such things to your Blainey? Look, let me use the camera and I promise I'll behave."

Chris peeked out from between his fingers to glare at Darren, half-tempted to drop his fist into Darren's lap to whack him one, but he refrained, simply reaching for his phone to check the time.

"Blackmail, really? Something is wrong with society when you're considered more of an adult than me. Now we only have twenty minutes left, you idiot. Come on then."

He held the camera out to Darren, who immediately sat up poker straight, pointedly straightening his Dalton blazer and doing a fake-smooth of his hair before taking the camera out of Chris' hands.

"Okay. In character. Let's go."

Darren raised the camera in front of them and tugged Chris into the crook of his arm to rest his head under Darren's chin. Darren was warm, and even with the ticklish fabric of the blazer against his cheek, Chris couldn't help enjoying the feeling of being cuddled up next to him. He felt a blush rise in his cheeks, his face warming against Darren's chest. Darren quickly snapped a few shots, the flash blinding, before he shifted slightly to sprawl his legs out in front of him. Chris raised his head to look at the photos, pleased that they were finally making some progress.

Chris took the camera from him, ignoring Darrens' protests. They were pretty cute, sure, but not particularly candid. Chris turned to Darren who had shrugged off his blazer, throwing it to the other end of the couch. Chris mimicked him, but he folded his blazer neatly and placed it at the end of the couch with a pointed look at Darren, who bit his lip and grinned.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret saying this, but I think we need to be a bit sillier."

Darren gasped, raising a hand to his mouth before putting on a ridiculous high-pitched southern accent to retort, "Why sir, what a ridiculous idea! We'll be ruined!"

Chris ignored him as he continued, "Look, let's just muck around and see what we get," and upon catching the flash of mischief that appeared in Darren's eyes, "but _in character._" he said warningly, "Happy cute teenagers in love."

Darren nodded excitedly, before raising the camera once more. Chris moved to sit closer to Darren when he suddenly felt a wet smack against his cheek and saw a flash go off. Chris let out a little squeak that was not at all flattering and whacked Darren on the shoulder. Darren simply grinned at him before turning the camera round, fumbling for the display button. When the picture finally flashed up, his grin grew wider.

"Awwww!" He cooed, "Look how cute we are."

Chris peered over his shoulder to get a better look at the picture. Darren was right – it _was_ cute.

Chris' eyebrows were raised in shock and his mouth was in the shape of a little o, quirked up slightly at the corners. His cheeks were flushed, tinted with a pretty pink and he looked surprised, but pleased. Part of his hair was sticking up slightly at the side and his tie was a little loose, probably due to his previous struggles with Darren for ownership of the camera. Darren's eyes were closed, and his lips were pressed up against Chris' cheek in a pucker, his tanned profile a stark contrast to Chris' pale skin. His free arm was slung over Chris' shoulder, and his tie was also slightly loose, a little bit more so than Chris'. You could spy a little bit of Darren's arm in the edge of the photo from the way he had angled the camera, and it was all around pretty adorable. Chris couldn't help but smile at the picture, and glanced up from the camera to see Darren smiling at him softly. They both smiled for a moment, faces close from the way they had been looking at the photo until they remembered themselves, Chris letting out a small cough as he raised a hand to the back of his neck and looked away, while Darren began to flick through the other photos.

They spent the next ten minutes taking different shots, some with Chris sitting on Darren's lap, _(which hello, that was a little wonderfully awkward)_ his arms wrapped around his neck and their cheeks pressed together while one of Darren's was wrapped around his waist, some with Chris landing a peck on Darren's cheek, and generally photo after photo of arms everywhere and faces close. When they finally ran out of time, they stood together, Chris gently fixing Darren's tie as Darren pulled his blazer back on, trying to smooth the wrinkles out as he patted it down. Chris grabbed the camera, slinging it over his shoulder by the strap, and they wandered back to set together, the conversation light, focusing on Darren's latest work for Starkid and Chris' writing as they bantered back and forth.

Chris wordlessly handed the camera over to Ryan with a smile and a nod, and Ryan watched as Darren and Chris strode towards the make-up artists who were waving them over to sit, muttering about hair and mascara and a multitude of other things. He tore his eyes away to look at the camera in his hand, and he raised an eyebrow at the first one, a candid shot of what was obviously a very out-of-character Darren sitting cross-legged in his cast chair. He glanced back up momentarily to see Chris lean towards Darren to whisper something that caused Darren to burst out laughing, and he turned back to the photos, feeling as though he was stepping into some strangely intimate moment. The persistent beep accompanied each photo as he flicked through a number of ridiculous photos of the two of them, some far too awkward and posed, but most of them full of strange faces and Chris looking like he wanted to strangle somebody. He chuckled, settling back into the chair, until he finally paused on a photo and smiled.

_That's the one._

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><p>When Chris got back to his trailer a few hours of filming later, there was a small envelope lying on the floor, pushed under the doorframe and he stumbled in his attempt to not step on it. His name was scrawled messily on the front and he picked it up curiously, turning it over in his hand as he flicked it open.<p>

He pulled gently on the contents, revealing a glossy print of Chris and Darren with Darren's lips pressed to his cheek. He flushed; glad nobody was around to see him and turned it over to read a single word – _Courage_. It was accompanied with a winking face, a hyphen, and the initials RM, and Chris groaned as he slumped down on his couch, and for the second time today, pondered _how on earth_ somebody like Ryan Murphy existed.


End file.
